GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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For The Bible Tells Me So First
Run Features, Director:
Screenplay:
Starring:
Unrated, 98 minutes |
Ain't
Necessarily So
"Now
[the Bible] is being used, misused, to condemn gay people. It's an old
trick. Fundamentalist Christians have been using it throughout the ages,
and now they're doing it again." "There
are about 6 or 7 verses in all of Scripture that speak even remotely to
what we might call homosexual activity or homosexual conduct." "There's
nothing wrong with a fifth grade understanding of God, as long as you're
in the fifth grade." |
 The
Bible tells us many things. It tells us that we should love our neighbor
but try telling this to religious zealots who are looking for a reason to
justify their hatred of homosexuals. These fanatics insist that every word
in the Bible is absolute and they enjoy citing a passage in the Book of
Leviticus that states that a man shall not lay with another man for it is
an abomination and both shall be put to death. They fail to note that another
verse in the same chapter calls for the execution of children who curse
their parents. While we're at it, how about all those Kosher laws outlined
in Leviticus that are still part of Jewish tradition but totally ignored
by Christians? And does anybody obey those pesky edicts that we
should give all of our money away to the poor? |
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 Director
Karslake has assembled an amazing cast. The families include the openly
gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and his parents; Missouri Representative
(and 2004 Presidential candidate) Dick Gephardt, his wife, and their daughter
Chrissy - whose coming out was featured in both The Advocate and
People Magazine; Fundamentalist ministers Brenda & David Poteat and
their lesbian daughter, Tonia; gay activist Jake Reitan who, along with
his parents, was arrested while attempting to deliver a letter to the Reverend
James Dobson at his Focus On The Family headquarters: and Mary Lou Wallner,
the founder of Teach Ministries. Finally, the many Biblical scholars and
commentators include Robinson, Rev. Mel White of Soulforce, and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. |
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 The
meat of the movie, to most viewers, will be the families who agreed to participate
and their stories are compelling. Gene Robinson talks about the death threats
he received when he was elected as Bishop. Dick Gephardt discusses how they
refused to let their daughter's sexuality become an issue during his Presidential
campaign. David Poteat laughs as he remembers praying "God, please don't
let my son grow up to be a faggot and my daughter a slut. And He did not.
He reversed it." Mary Lou Wallner describes the guilt she feels because
she followed the child rearing teachings of Dobson. The result of her blind
faith was that her lesbian daughter Anna was so devastated by her mother's
rejection that she committed suicide. Each tale is a story about love, acceptance
and healing - valuable lessons for those willing to listen. |
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 Accompanying
Brenda Proteat's anecdote about when her eyes were opened about homosexual
couples is a clip from the television program she was watching at the time:
The Phil Donahue Show with guests Bob Paris and Rod Jackson when
they were still the most famous gay couple in America. The footage of the
Reitans being taken away in handcuffs for trespassing at the Focus On The
Family compound speaks for itself without any commentary. Newsreels showing
angry protesters with Nazi-like signs sporting slogans that misuse scripture
for their own ends and examples of hate violence, including the murder of
Matthew Shepard, are also included. This, and similar footage, is not used
to beat the audience over the head, and the director knows when to let the
many Biblical experts speak for themselves. |
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 The
theologians employed have much to say, especially emphasizing how these
"6 or 7" passages that supposedly condemn homosexuality in The Bible have
to be placed in their correct cultural and historical contexts. One
scholar comments on how the Hebrew word for abomination was used to indicate
those things that were "against tradition" and another explains the verse
from Leviticus as being about "saving seed" and not wasting it when there
was a Nation that needed to grow. Another reminds us that eating shrimp
is an abomination too. As for the Sodom and Gomorrah story, the sin was
not homosexuality; it was the refusal to help strangers (and Sodom
was a notoriously stingy city). Let me be clear that this film does not
attack the Bible; it simply points out how people pick and choose the
parts of the Bible that they want to follow and how ignorant interpretations
of scripture - written for a world that hardly resembles our own anymore
- can be dangerous tools in the wrong hands. |
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 Some
folks are impatient with documentaries and so, to interject a bit of humor
for those who might be nodding off, there is also a very funny Michael Moore-style
animated sequence, at the film's midpoint, entitled "Is It A Choice?" featuring
a gay man, a lesbian and a dense nerd named Christian who rolls his eyes
and says, "Oh, that!" when the narrator announces "Let's hear what
science has to say." An ex-gay ministry is depicted as an assembly
line conveyor belt straight out of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall"
and the cartoon ends by announcing that "The information in this educational
cartoon is based on studies than can be found in any university library
- With the possible exception of The Bob Jones University in South Carolina."
The cartoon is a bit simplistic and obvious but it makes a great satiric
point, as does a hilariously cheesy Sunday School film about Sodom and Gomorrah.
The use of songs such as George and Ira Gershwin's classic "Ain't Necessarily
So" also help to reinforce the film's central thesis. |
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 There
is only so much information you can feed an audience at one time and the
Biblical scholarship in For The Bible Tells
Me So, while admirable, only scratches the surface. My life
partner Andy, whose education includes Rabbinical studies (and fluency in
Hebrew, Latin and Greek), has pointed out a number of things in The Torah
that he felt should have been included. I, too, would have liked to have
seen the scholars go into more detail than they did but this would have
run the risk of boring a general audience that will, undoubtedly, respond
more to the personal stories of the families profiled in the film. There
is much food for thought in For The Bible Tells
Me So and, by its conclusion, most viewers will certainly
have enjoyed a meal. By not belaboring its point, it has the potential of
opening some closed minds. |
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The DVD also includes biographies of all the principles involved, as well as a revealing interview with director Karslake and Bishop Robinson about the genesis of the film.
See also:
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 For The Bible Tells Me So is a First Run Features release. Click here to purchase this title. Click The Banner To View First Run's Other Gay/Lesbian Titles |
For
The Bible Tells Me So,
directed by Daniel G. Karslake, is a very thoughtful documentary that
explores the inherent dangers, and the devastating consequences, of interpreting
the Bible too literally. Too often, throughout history, passages in the
Bible have been used to justify slavery, to deny the rights of women,
and to condone institutionalized homophobia. The film employs numerous
theologians who place these controversial passages into the context of
their times, and their scholarship is juxtaposed with the stories of modern
families who share the unique personal journeys that each took in order
to accept their gay children. The film is not a diatribe; its tone is
conciliatory in the hopes of opening a dialogue which can speak to everyone.
For
The Bible Tells Me So
is an entertaining mix of talking heads, home movies and archival footage.
The film opens with the famous 1977 press conference where anti-gay bigot
Anita Bryant gets a pie shoved in her face. Other choice clips include
Mike Wallace in the notorious 1967 CBS documentary "The Homosexuals" and
one from The West Wing where President Bartlet confronts a televangelist
by asking what price
he should command when he sells his daughter into slavery - as is his
right according to Exodus 21:7.
Even
so, I'm not being delusional. The film preaches to the choir; the Pat
Robertsons of this world have already made up their minds and will not
entertain a single notion that doesn't fit into the bubbles in which they
have cocooned themselves. But consider Mary Lou Wallner's story. "My daughter
is dead," Wallner orates from a pulpit, "because of the untruths I was
taught by the church." It is heartbreaking that it took her child's suicide
to make her reject a lifetime of rigid beliefs, but now she has dedicated
her life to helping others not make the same mistake. If For
The Bible Tells Me So helps even one parent make
the leap beyond selective church teachings to accept his or her gay child,
then the film will have achieved its purpose.